ABSTRACT
The construction of the wall by the US administration has brought about plural and paradoxical effects: on the one hand, its aim has been to increase national security while hindering immigration; on the other hand, many visual artists have perceived the wall itself as a great canvas to express a positive image of the border. This paper analyzes various artistic manifestations from a cosmopolitan perspective that, based on an ethics of hospitality, transforms a divisory wall into an inclusive and welcoming one. Projects such as Lizbeth De La Cruz’s visual and digital mural, Enrique Chiu’s massive “Mural de la Hermandad,” Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello’s installation of a seesaw across nations named “Teeter-Totter Wall,” and Ana Teresa Fernández’s “Erasing the Border” are cultural productions recently created in public spaces along the borderline. Artists and audiences interact in these aesthetic initiatives toward the achievement of encouraging hopeful dialogues. Human dignity is restored in these transnational artworks while a militarized geographical space is being deconstructed, gaining some humanitarian values in the exchange.
